Shabazz is the new Bubba

Remember Bubba Helms? He was the young Taylor man who joined the riots outside Tiger Stadium after the Tigers won the World Series in 1984.
A photograph of Helms, beer belly surging from beneath his t-shirt, a Tiger pennant held proudly over his head, illuminated by an overturned and burning Detroit police car, became the symbol of how our community can turn even a celebration into something violent.
Malik Shabazz is the new Bubba Helms.
The minister’s frothing rant at the financial review panel public meeting Monday will become emblematic of Detroit’s self-destructiveness.
Shabazz took the microphone to denounce the mostly black panel as “white supremacists” and then concluded, finger pointed, with these quickly infamous words: “Before we let you take over our city, we will burn it down first!”
My email began immediately filling up with messages from non-Detroiters watching the chaos on TV. Comments ranged from “Let the city slide into the river” to “Someone should tell him his city has already burned down.”
Anti-Detroit sentiment has been fading somewhat in our region over the last couple of years. There’s a growing recognition that Detroit is our heart, and must beat strong if the region is to thrive.
And then someone like Shabazz comes along, spewing his venom, and the Detroit haters have justification for their view of the city as a lost cause.
But really, anyone watching that public hearing could not be blamed for coming away with that impression.
Shabazz and the gang of shouters at Monday’s meeting are not typical Detroiters. But unfortunately they are the Detroiters who show up.